Water-heater.



B. A. SGHRODER. WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.28.1908.

, nuentoz .3. /7. 511112174 2): witnesses Patented Nov. 7, 1911.

- the secondarv BERNARD A. SCHRODEB, 0F BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

WATER-HEATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 7, 1911.

Application filed December 28, 1908. Serial No. 69,704.

To all whom it may umcem:

Be it known that I, BERNARD A. Scrmoonn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama,have invented new and useful Improvements in Water-Heaters, of which thefollowing is a specification My invention relates to an improvement inwater heaters designed particularly with a view to furnishing anapparatus which is adapted for use with either a single or double pipingsystem and .capable of delivering either hot or cold water, as may bede-- sired. Heaters thus connected with the piping system are usuallydistant from the points of use for the heated water.

The chief object of my invention is to make such heaters primarilysubject to the control of the user by means operable from the variouspoints of use, such primary control beingsupplemented by automaticsafety secondary controls, one responsive to the water pressure uponopening a faucet which cuts on and ignites the gas. and anotherresponsive to abnormal conditions in the heater which cuts off the gas.These automatic controls, being secondary, will not come into serviceuntil the rimary control is operated, hence the heater IS without effecton the piping system until the user; cuts it into service, prior towhich, obviously, cold water may be drawn through the heater.

As a preferred means for controlling the heater, I employ electricapparatus comprising a solenoid for operating the gas valve in a circuitcontrolled by switches at the distant points of use as well as by thesecondary automatic controls.

A further objectis to regulate the heat of the water by the handswitches instead of by controls which are, strictly speaking, safetydevices rather than controls. These safety devices, in addition tocutting off the gas, perform the novel function of effecting therestoration of the hand switches to their initial position, therebygiving notice to the user of abnormal conditions at the heater andrequiring him to again operate the hand switch before the heater cancome again into use. In this connection, the water pressure secondarycontrol, acts instantly, upon the closing of the faucet, to cut theheater out of service and return the hand switch to initial position.

A further object of m invention is to utilize an electric igniter or thepurpose of igniting the gas, thereby avoiding the necessity ofcontinuously burning a pilot flame, as well as the danger of escape andexplosion of the gas, should the pilot become accidentally extinguished.

My invention further comprises many novel features and detailshereinafter more fully described and claimed, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in 5 which Figure 1 is aside elevation of myimproved water heater partly broken away and having electric circuitsillustrated diagrammatically. Fig. 2 is a detail view of'the thermostatfor automatically breaking the 7 main circuit.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout thedrawings.

As illustrated, I provide a water heater having a casing 1 surrounding aheating coil or pipe 2 to which water is supplied by a pipe 3 and drawnoff through a pipe 4, the latter pipe leading to a cylinder 5. Thiscylinder contains a piston valve 6 which has connected thereto a stem 7and which, when the water pressure on both sides of it is balanced, ismoved to the position shown by the coil spring 8. From this cylinder apipe 9 leads to the faucet 10, which will, generally speaking, be atsome distant point of use in the house.

Mounted on the pipe 4 is a shell or casing 11 rigidly held in place bystraps 12 and inclosing a thermostat 13 of any standard composition,which thermostat is rigidly con nected at one end by means of bolts 14to the casing and left with its other end, which projects without thecasing, free to expand or contract and in so doing to operate a circuitclosing switch, hereinafter described.

Below the coil in the heater I provide a number of gas burners 15 and asmall pilot burner 16, above which is suspended a section of platinumwire 17 in circuit with the wire 18. Gas is supplied tothese burnersthrough a pipe 19 under the control of a valve 20 connected to andoperated by av lever 21. The lever 21 is provided with a longitudinalslot 22 with which the core 23 1 of the solenoid 24 makes slidingconnection. This lever 21, at its upper end, carries the contact point25 which moves over a nonconducting plate 26 and by engaging the contactplate 27 clos'es the circuit to the wires 18 from the wire 28. A spring29 is connected to the lever 21 and tends to draw the same away from thesolenoid and close the gas valve whenever the solenoid is denergized.The wire 18 is connected to the contact point by a wire coil whichprovides for the requisite play of the lever in controlling the gas.

Electrical energy for controlling the system is derived from a battery31, or a similar source of supply. Current flows from this sourcethrough a line wire 32, with which the wire 28 connects. The wire 32connects with the windings of a magnet 33 and continues to the handswitch arm 34. This arm is acted upon by a spring 35 which normallyholds it over a non-conducting segment 36, thereby breaking the maincircuit until the arm is moved by the user into engagement with one ofthe contact plates 37. Wires 38 and 39 lead from the battery to thearmature 40 of a magnet 41, which is energized by a wire 42 leadingfromthe wire 32 and continuing beyond the magnet to the contact point43, which is adapted to be engaged by a contact 44 carried on the upperend of a pivoted arm 45, the lower end of which is adapted to be movedby the thermostat, as it expands, against the action of a spring 46. toclose the circuit at 43, and through the spring 46 and wire 47 back tothe batterv. hen normal conditions obtain. the circuit will be broken atthe contacts 43 and 44. and the magnet 41 will be deenergized,permitting the armature 40 to swing down by gravity and close thecircuit to the point 48 and through wire 49 to a contact 50, where thecircuit is normally broken when the water is not running, as

the spring 51 will hold the pivoted contact arm 52 away from the point50 until the stem 7 of the plunger 6 is moved to the right to permitwater to flow into pipe 9 and through the faucet. By opening the faucetand reducing the pressure behind ,the plunger, the same will act toclose the circuit at the point 50 and through wire 53 to the solenoid24. The current, however, will not flow through the solenoid until theswitch arm 34 is moved'into contact with the first plate 37, in whichevent the circuit will be closed from the battery through arm 34 andwire 54 and caused to flow through the portion 55 of the winding on thesolenoid, and thence by wire 53 across the con tact 50 and by wires 49and 39 back to the battery. Thus the partial energizing of the solenoidwill cause the core 23 to move inwardly and open the gas valve partiallyand in so doing will move the contact 25 causing a momentary closing ofthe igniter circuit through wire 28, plate 27, point 25, and

through wires 18 across the platinum ig-' niter coil back to wire 49 andthe battery. As the contact 25 moves across the plate 27 the currentwill cause the platinum wire to become momentarily incandescent and willimmediately light the pilot flame and the burners 15, after which theigniter circuit is broken. If the arm 34 be moved into contact with thesecond plate 37 a second section 55 of the winding of the solenoid 24will be energized 'by current flowing through.

or tooth 58 adapted to engage with a segmental rack 59 forming the lowerend of i the switch arm 34 below its pivot point 60. It will be evidentthat when the circuit is closed at the point 50 and through the switch34, the magnet 33 will be energized and will draw its armature 56upwardly so that the tooth 58 will engage the segment 59 and hold thearm against the action of the spring 35 in the position to which it isset. The engagement of the dogwill not prevent the arm being moved byand to different positions, but will hold the'arm against the sprlng.

In operation, if cold water is desired, the arm 34 is left in theposition shown and cold water can be drawn by opening the faucet 10,since the closing of the contact at 50 will leave the main circuit stillbroken at the hand switch 34 and cold water can accordingly be drawn asif there were no heater. Should it be desired, however, to raise thetemperature of the water, the arm 34 is moved on to the first contactplate 37 and the circuit being closed through the magnet 33, the armwill be locked in its position, and the solenoid 24 partially energizedwith the result that the gas will be turned on partly and the ignitercircuit closed to ignite the gas. The magnet 41 will be deenergized atthis time as the circuit stands broken at the point 43. If now the arm34 be swung over to the farthest contact 37, the core 23 will assume itsextreme position to the left and a full flow of gas will result, itbeing noted that after the point 25 has moved over the contact 27 theigniter circuit is broken. Should water become too highly heated underthese conditions, the thermostat 13 will expand outwardly and close thecontact at 4 and clo e the contact at 4 and will leave l.nism responsiveto the drawing of water the circuit broken by the hand switch 44 sothrough said heater which tends to open said that it i necessary for theuser to move this a switch again before bringing the heater intoservice.

As above described. my apparatus is extremely simple in umstructiou andentirely safeguards against the dangers of an apparatus wholly dependentupon automatic action either of a thermostat or water pressure regulatedvalves.

The gist of my invention lies in the pri mary hand control from thepoints of use whether near or distant which cooperates with one or bothsecondary or safety controls automatically responsive to the flow,pressure or temperature. as the case may be. of the water in the heater.

Having thus described my invention. what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a water heating apparatus, a water heating receptacle connectedwith a water pipe, a heater for heating said receptacle, manuallycontrolled means to regulate said heater. automatic means. responsive tothe drop in pressure in said pipe. due to the drawing of watertherethrough. which cooperates with said manually controlled means tocut said heater into service and means making said manual an automaticmeans inter-dependent in the performance of their respective functions.

2. In a water heating apparatus. a heating receptacle forming part of awater supply pipe. a heater for heating said receptacle, an automaticmeans responsive to the flow of water through said pipe. and manuall ycontrolled means operable from a point of use of the heated water andmeans controlled jointly by said automatic and manually controlled meansto cut said heater into'service and to regulate the intensity of theheat. substantially ass-described.

In a water heater. a water coil connected to a house supply pipe, aheater for said eoil.'a device at said heater for controlling theoperation of the heater. :1 mechanism responsive to the flow of waterthrough said house pipe and mechanism positioned at a point of use ofthe heated water nd adapted to be manually adjusted. means jointlycontrolled by said n'cchanisms to actuate said controlling device forthe heater, automatic safety means responsive to abnormal conditions inthe heater which interrupts the operating connection between said.DlPtfliill'llHllS and device, and means to automatically rest re saidmanually ad usted mechanism to initial position when such ina e/gasburner, a gas vaLve,-automatic mechavalve. manually controlled meansoperating independently of the drawing of the water to arrest theopening movement of the valve at predetermined points and thereby tocontrol the extent to which said valve is thus automatically opened andmechanism operable for a distant point of use to adjust said latter,means to one of a series of predetermined operating positions.

3. In a water heater disposed at a distance from points of use of thewater heated, a water receptacle in circuit with a pipe leading tofaucets at distant points of use, a heating means for heating saidreceptacle, and interdependent manual and automatic means forcontrolling said heating means, said manual means being adjacent to butindependent of said faucets and operable from said distant points ofuse, and said automatic means being responsive to the drawing of waterthrough said heater.

6. In a water heater disposed at a distance from points of use for thewater heated, a water receptacle in circuit with a pipe leading to thedistant points of use. a heating means for heating said receptacle. andinterdependent manual and automatic means for controlling said heatingmeans, said manual means being operable from said distant points of use,and said automatic means being responsive to the drawing of waterthrough said heater to cut said heating means into and out of service.

7. In a water heater. a water receptacle connected in a water pipe, agas burner for heating said receptacle, valve means controlling the flowof gas to said burner. electromagnetic means for operating said valvemeans, a manually controlled switch and circuit connections to controlthe intensity of the electro-m'agnetie means and thereby to regulate themovement of the valve, and a switch. automatically controlled by thedrop in pressure due to the drawing of water through said pipe, whichmakes or breaks the main circuit to said electro-magnetic means,substantially as described.

9. In a water heater, :1 water coil 0on nected to a water pipe, :1 gasburner for heating said coil, valve means controlling the flow of gas tosaid burner, electro-magnetic means for operating said valve means, amanually controlled switch and circuit. connections to control theintensity of the electro-magnetic means andthereby to regulate themovement of the valve, a switch automatically controlled by the drop inpressure due to the drawiiig of water through said pipe which makes orbreaks the main circuit to said electro-magnetic means, in

combination with an electric igniter for the gas, and a make and breakswitch for the igniter circuit which is operated by the electromagneticcontrolling means for the gas valve means.

9. In a water heater, a water heating coil in a pipe line, a. gas burnerfor heating said coil, a valve controlling the flow of gas to theburner, a solenoid for operating said valve, a series of circuit wirestapped on the windings 0 said solenoid at difi'erent points, a handoperated multi-point switch for controlling the flow of current throughone or the other of said circuits, a source of electric energy fordeliveringcurrent to said circuits, a Water pressure controlled switchfor making or breaking the solenoid circuit automatically,a thermostat,a switch controlled by said thermostat to break said main circuit, anelectrical igniter for the gas "in a separate circuit, and a make andbreak switch operated by said solenoid for energizing the igniter,circuit as the gas valve opens.

10. In a water heater, the combination with a water coil, a gas burnerand an electric igniting means for said burner, of a gas controllingvalve, a solenoid for actuating said valve, a source of electric energy,circuits leading therefromto said solenoid and igniting means, amulti-point manually op erated switch for controlling the flow ofcurrent to said solenoid, spring means to return said switch arm' toinitial position. electromagnetically controlled means to hold saidswitch in the adjusted position against the action of said spring, anautomatic make and break switch controlling the main circuits, whichautomatic means respond to the drawing ofwater through the heater toclose the main circuit and lock the hand switch when the latter is movedfrom its initial position, and means to close the igniter circuit as thegas valve opens.

11. In a water heater, the combination with a water coil, a gas burner,of a gas controlling valve, a solenoid for actuating said valve, asource of electric energy, circuits leading therefrom to said solenoid,a multipoint manually operated switch for controlling the fiow ofcurrent to said solenoid, spring means to return said switch arm toinitial position, electromagnetically controlled means to hold saidswitch in the adjusted position against..the action of said spring whenthe main circuit is closed, an automatic make and break switchcontrolling the main circuit which automatic means respond to thedrawing Of'WfifbBI through the heater to close the main circuit and lockthe,

hand switch when the latter is moved 'Erom its initial position, andmeans to ignite the gas when turned on,

12. In a water heater, the combination with a water coil, a gas burnerand an electric igniting meansfor-said burner, or? a gas controllingvalve, a solenoid tor actuating said valve, a source otelectric energy,cirrooaovv said switch in any adjusted position against the action ofsaid spring, an automatic make and break switch controlling the maincircuits,.which automatic means respond to the'drawing of water throughthe heater to close the main circuit and energize the means to lock thehand switch when the latter is moved from its initial position, and aswitch to makeand break the igniter cir cuit which is moved by thesolenoid which actuates the gas valve, substantially as described.

13. In a water heater, a water receptacle. water inlet and outlet pipesconnected there with, one or more faucets for discharging water fromsaid outlet pipe. a heater for said receptacle. an" adjustable deviceadjacent to each faucet, an automatic device responsive to the drawingof water through said receptacle. means controlled jointly by any one ofsaid adjustable devices when operating in conjunction with saidautomatic device, and mechanism controlled by said latter means to outsaid heater into service and regulate the intensity of its heat,substantially as described' 14. In a water heater, a water coilconnected with a house service pipe, a gas heater for the coilcomprising means to ignite the gas and valve means to control and cutoft the gas, means tending to return said valve when opened to a closedposition, and the following cooperating mechanisms for controlling theopening of said valve, viz: a device whichmovcs responsive to a drop inpressure in the water pipe due to the drawing of water through theheater, :1 device positioned at the point of use of the heated water,and power transmission means responsive only to the joint andsimultaneous operation of both said mechanisms for actuating said valveto open same against the action of said means for automaticallyreturning the gas valve to a closed position, substantially asdescribed.

15. The combination in a single pipe water distribution system fordelivering hot or cold water for house service, of a pipe line, a waterheater arranged to heat the water flowing through said pipe line.interdependent means for controlling said heater comprising a mechanismresponsive to the drawing of hot or cold water through said pipe linewhich sets the heater to go into service upon the operation of manuallycoptrolled mechanism and manually controlled mechanism for setting theheater to into service Which is disposed adjacent able independent ofthe faucets connected with said pipe line and operable from a distantpoint or scribed.

16. The combination in a single pipe water distribution system fordelivering hot or cold water for house service, of a pipe line, a waterheater arranged to heat the water flowing through said pipe line,interdependent means for controlling said heater comprising a mechanismresponsive to the drawing of hot or cold Water through said pipe linewhich sets the heater to go into service upon the operation of manuallycontrolled mechanism, and manually controlled points of use,substantially as demechanism for setting the heater to go into servicewhich is disposed adjacent to but independent. of the faucets connectedwith said pipe line and operable from a distant point or points of use,said manually controlled mechanism comprising means to regulate theheating action of said heater from the said distant point or points ofuse.

In testimonv whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

BERNARD A. SCHRODER. \Vitnesses:

ANNIE L. PEACE, R. D. JonNs'roN, Jr.

